Claiming Life or Death
by SadiResentai
Summary: She didn't think he'd actually do it. But when she saw her comrades throat ripped out by him, she knew she'd have to act fast to avoid meeting the same fate as the men around her. She'd do exactly as her mama told her; smile, be polite, and then ask if she could claim one last thing...Life. -Daryl and OC, or Rick and OC, not sure at the moment. Read and Review!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! Here's my first Walking Dead Fanfiction. It contains an OC, and it may turn M, I'm not quite sure. So read this first chapter, and tell me what ya think! It can be good or bad, I just want some criticism, even though I'll continue it anyways. Enjoy!**

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"Claimed!"

She sighed, hearing that same word being repeated over and over in the last half hour. They had just came to another house to gather supplies, so the men around her were at work, claiming what they wanted for themselves.

"Not getting anything for yourself?" She turned to the right of her to see the leader of their group, Joe, giving her a curious look. She shook her head.

"I'll wait." He chuckled, before reaching into his vest pocket for a cigarette and his lighter.

"They respect you, you know. There's no need to back down."

"Do they?"

"Yes. You've proved yourself. Just because you're a woman doesn't mean you can't stand up and demand respect." Their group was known for being somewhat sexist, and many of them showed that side most of the time. Joe was sexist on a few occasions, but he still allowed her to be her own person, and he didn't force her to do anything she didn't feel comfortable with. Then again, that might've been because she was his younger sister.

"Look Joe, you know as well as I do that if I start trying to stand up and be dominant, that they'll think I'm acting brave because I'm your sister. They'll say I'm hiding behind you." He lit his cigarette, taking a drag.

"Who said I'd let you do that? If you start anything, you're finishing it. I'm your brother, I know, but I gotta keep this group together. Now go check the kitchen, I told them I claimed that." He said the last sentence with a crooked grin. She rolled her green eyes, before walking to the kitchen. She began rummaging in the cupboards, until Lou walked in.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" She spun around and put her hands on her hips, right at the waist of her black skinny jeans. They'd been torn from all her traveling, but they still kept her clothed and somewhat warm.

"Looking for food, what does it look like?"

"You're brother already claimed this room, bitch."

"Do not call me a bitch, Lou. He told me to search this room."

"Oh, I get it. He's providin' for you, 'cause you're too weak." She pointed her index finger at Lou, ready to yell at him. But before she could, Joe walked in with Len. Joe looked between her and Lou, waiting for an explanation. Lou started before she could open her mouth.

"Your sister here tried to claim this room." Joe glanced over at his sister, waiting.

"Joe, I told him you told me to search this room. He came in here, called me a bitch, and he said I'm too weak, so you've gotta provide for me." Joe looked at Lou.

"Is that true Lou?" Lou looked uncomfortable, and she almost burst out laughing. He knew what would happen if he lied to her brother, and if he admitted that he had said all of that to her, then Lou would look like a complete idiot.

"Yes Joe..But she's scavenging in the room that _you_ already claimed!"

"I told her too. I was just trying to have a smoke, but instead you felt like being the leader for once. Go on upstairs Lou, before I have her go through your claimed shit." Lou left the kitchen, and she could hear his footsteps clomping up the stairs. Joe turned to look at her.

"Damnit Russia, I told you I didn't wanna finish your problems."

"You didn't have to step in." He scoffed, finishing off his cigarette.

"You two were getting too damn loud. Go on, I'll finish up with this room." She sighed once again, before doing as he said. She sat in the living room of the house, resting for a bit. They'd been going from house to house, stocking up on supplies, and she hadn't had a chance to sleep or even rest her eyes.

"Hey, get up! Joe wants you to go check to see where Lou is." She rubbed her eyes.

"Why the hell should I?"

"He said because you started it." She rolled her eyes, before getting up and walking to the stairs. She went up the stairs, glancing through doorways, before deciding to try the bathroom. She had seen Joe walking around with his damn tennis ball as she walked to the bathroom. Russia opened the door, and as she stepped inside, she barely had time to notice Lou's dead body on the floor before being pushed up against the wall. She stared into the bright blue eyes that were concentrated on her, breathing heavily from the rush of being attacked. He had closed the door behind her and had Lou's machine gun on his back. She then noticed the pair of scissors opened and against her neck as he stared her down. She examined in quickly, taking in his messy dark brown hair and slightly graying beard.

"Did you, did you kill him?" She looked down at Lou's body as she asked him this.

"Yeah. I need to get to my son. Don't try anything, I don't wanna kill you."

"I won't. Go." He released her, giving her a wary look, before going over to the window and exiting. She stared at the open window for a moment, until deciding she needed to leave the bathroom before Lou reanimated into a snapper. Russia walked down the stairs and out to the porch, where she saw her brother about to eat.

"Did ya find Lou?" She shook her head, looking out over the yard of the house.

"No."

"The house is only so big Rus-" They heard yells from inside the house, which made Joe jump into action. He pointed at her. "Stay here. I'll go deal with those idiots." He went inside, and when she turned around to look at the yard again, she saw the man from the bathroom running across the yard towards a woman and kid. _Must be his kid..._She thought. They disappeared down the road and a few minutes later, Joe came out, mad as hell.

"What happened?"

"Someone killed Lou and left him to turn in the bathroom. Tony said he saw a guy under the bed before Len knocked him out. Didn't you see him when you went looking for Lou!?"

"No! I didn't see anyone! Did Lou get anybody?"

"No. But we're damn lucky. He almost got Billy. Come on. We got our supplies. We're gonna leave and find this bastard, then we'll kill him."

They'd been on the road for a few days, and Russia wanted nothing more than for Joe to just give up. She wasn't getting soft, but she thought it was stupid for them to chase some guy for killing Lou. Lou deserved it anyhow, she thought smugly. The sound of Joe talking shook her out of her thoughts.

"Look here boys, we've got some son of a bitch waiting to die. He's a bowman though, I don't think he just gave up so easily." Sure enough, she looked a ways ahead of them at the road that was coming into view from the woods, and she saw a lone man on the ground, crossbow next to him. They surrounded him, Russia waiting patiently for them to either kill him or have him join their group. She watched, somewhat amused, as the stranger punched Joe in the face and aimed his bow at her brother. In the end, Joe convinced him to tag along with them. After that, they continued on their hunt for the man who killed Lou. As they walked, Russia decided to catch up with her brother and the stranger, who's name she had heard was Daryl. She fell into step next to Joe, while Daryl was on the other side of her brother.

"What do you want, Russia?" Her brother asked as he glanced at her.

"Just coming to chat, Joe." He ignored her, and after a couple hours, the group ended up in what looked like somebody else's old camp. They set up, and Russia went to sleep later on. She woke up to arguing, so she got up and found that Len and Daryl were fighting over a rabbit. Joe walked over to them and explained the 'claimed' rule to the newcomer, before splitting the rabbit in half. They set off again, this time walking on the railroad tracks. She walked with Joe and Daryl again, listening to her brother talk.

"Now I'm not forcin' you to stay with us, Daryl, but it'd be good for you. Can't stay here alone all the time. Now the only thing 'ere that you need to know, is that if you lie or steal in this group, you're itching for a severe beatin'." Russia rolled her eyes at her older brother's words, before nodding at a building up ahead.

"We could stay there for the night, Joe." He nodded.

"We will. C'mon boys, let's set up camp in that there platform." While the other men went on up ahead, Joe turned to Daryl. "Now there ain't nothin' sadder than an outdoor cat who thinks he's an indoor cat. Now men like us-" Daryl interrupted her brother.

"There ain't no 'us' here." Joe stopped walking to face Daryl.

"So you leaving right now?" The newcomer didn't reply, so Joe continued. "No? Then there sure seems like an 'us'." Joe walked towards the platform with the rest of his men, while Russia followed behind with Daryl. As the two of them walked in, the rest of the men were already laying claim to cars and whatnot to sleep in. She observed as Daryl tried to claim something, but with no such luck. He ended up on the floor, which she figured would happen, given he was the outcast at the moment. She walked to the car that Joe had claimed, already deciding she'd sleep in the passenger side. Russia fell asleep quickly, exhausted from walking all day.

"You stole my damn half of that rabbit, didn't 'cha, boy!?" Russia groaned as she heard Len yelling, presumably at Daryl. She pulled her dark brown leather jacket over her head, trying to block it out. Joe chuckled at her attempts, then got out of the car.

"I didn't steal your half! You're a lyin' piece of shit!" Russia slid out of the car and walked up to lean against the hood, watching as Joe grabbed Daryl's bag and dumped it on the floor. The contents fell out, including Len's half of the rabbit. "He set me up!" Joe turned to look at Len.

"Did you set Daryl up and put your half in his bag?" Russia raised an eyebrow, waiting to see what Len had to say.

"Why the hell would I do that? He took my half!" Joe seemed to almost contemplate that for a second, before sucker punching Len in the face. He whistled for the other men, before gesturing to Len on the floor.

"Teach Len here a lesson." The men swarmed Len and dragged him away to beat him, more than likely to death. Russia looked back over at Joe. "I saw Len plant that rabbit half in your bag earlier. I've had enough of him anyways." Joe went to pack up his things in the car he had slept in, while Russia made her way over to Daryl, crouching down to help him pick up his belongings. He swatted her away.

"I don't need your help." She rolled her eyes, before helping him anyways.

"Shut it, I'm helping. You don't seem like a group kind of guy. Were you ever in a group?" He didn't answer her right away, making her irritated, so she instead grabbed the garbage bag from him, making him lash out.

"Hey! What the hell? That's my bag, girl!" She pointed a finger at him, narrowing her eyes.

"You look here, _boy_, I'm the only one who can possibly help you here. I'm sick of all of these jackasses staring at me and 'putting me in my place'. I know you'll probably leave later on, but until that point in time, you're gonna have to get along with these dumbasses. So if you wanna live long enough with them, you're going to have to befriend at least one, which would be me. Now, are you gonna play along, or be just another ass?" He mumbled something she didn't quite catch, but she heard something along the lines of, 'just like her'. She didn't pressed the issue.

"Alright." She grinned.

"Good. Here." She gave him his bag back. "Now you gonna answer my question?"

"I was."

"Two words, congrats. What happened?"

"Overrun." She sighed, running a hand through her dark blonde hair.

"Okay, seriously? You're horrible at befriending people. C'mon, let's go. Joe probably wants to leave soon." As they walked over to Joe's car, he motioned for them to go outside. Russia led the way for Daryl and as they went outside, they saw Len's body laying on the ground, bloody and beaten with an arrow to the head. Daryl reached for a sheet lying next to them to cover him but then thought better of it. The two of them followed Joe and the group down onto the railroad tracks, continuing with their trek to find Lou's killer. After they had been walking for awhile, Russia heard Daryl say something. "Sorry, what?"

"You got sumthin' with Joe?" He nodded his head to Joe who was walking up front, talking to Tony.

"Do I have something with _Joe_?" She laughed so hard that the men turned to look back at her with Daryl. She quieted herself down then replied.

"No...No, no! He's my older brother. Oh my...No!" She looked at Daryl from the corner of her eye to see him somewhat flushed, looking slightly embarassed for asking the question in the first place. "Sorry for laughing...No though, Joe's my older brother."

"Oh."

"Got any siblings?"

"None of your damn business."

"Hey! It's like Hammurabi Code here. Eye for an eye, question for a question!"

"Yeah."

"How many?"

"One."

"Did he, did he die?"

"Well he ain't here now is he?"

"Sorry, I'm being a pain. I have an older sister too, but I have no idea where she is."

"Had to put my older brother down. Found him already turned into a walker."

"A...what? Walker? What the hell is- Oh! A snapper? One of the dead?"

"Sure."

"That must've sucked. If Joe turned, I'd probably get killed. He's the one who found me wandering around alone. I left town with my roommate and her boyfriend. She got ripped apart by some snappers. Her boyfriend was starting to get a bit too touchy-touchy. Joe saved me, took me in with the rest of his group. These men, they're bastards. For the first couple weeks, they tried to cop a feel and get much too close for my liking. I complained to Joe, and he told me I was on my own. He'd stop it from going too far, like rape, but if I wanted the catcalls and vulgar remarks to end, I'd have to stand up."

"You weren't already this upfront and forward?" She chuckled at his remark, and saw just the sly beginning of a smirk on his face.

"Naw, I was shy as a bird. We grew up in one of those kind of families. Mama taught my sister and I to behave and be polite, ya know, respect men and know our place. Our dad treated us like glass, while Joe was treated like a star son, taught all the rules for being a 'man'. That's what you're seeing here. So at first, I wasn't used to being called these disgusting names, like bitch, slut, eyecandy, etc...They treated me like an object used for only one thing. Well after my talk with Joe, I realized that I'd need to do as he said. So I pulled on my big girl jeans, slapped on my 'bitch face', and I showed them what's up."

"Anything happen?"

"Len. He tried to pull the 'claimed' bullshit on me. Came over to me one night while I was setting up my things to sleep. Got _real_ cozy. Well as he tried to get in these skinny jeans, I slapped him across the face, took the knife from his belt, and I held it up to his neck. I dragged him over to the fire we had started, making sure all of the men saw me make a fool of Len. I told him I wasn't gonna have any of their bullshit, I was not an object to claim, and if they tried anything, I said I'd cut off what means most to them. I kicked Len face first into the dirt, slid his knife into coat pocket, then went back to continue setting up."

"Guessin' he didn't like ya much after that." She shook her head with a smile.

"No. Joe was proud of me though. He reinforced the no-claiming rule for me. Slapped me on the back and called me his sister in front of them all, making sure they all knew I wasn't a force to be reckoned with." She chuckled. "However, even though he acts like I need to fend for myself, I know he'll let me have at his 'claimed' things. Such as the car from last night where I slept. Maybe this whole outbreak thing brought us closer. Or I watched one too many cliche movies."

"What happened to your roommates man?"

"Joe didn't like him. He lied to Joe, said I was his girlfriend. Joe pretty much gutted him and fed him to the snappers. He doesn't let the other men do the dirty work all of the time, ya know." Daryl nodded, before stopping to say 'claimed' and picking up a strawberry plant growing next to the tracks. He put it in his bag and carried on walking with Russia. Russia got the courage to ask Daryl another question.

"What happened back when we found you? What were you doing?" He almost seemed like he wasn't going to answer, but he opened his mouth to reply.

"Chasin' down a car."

"Why?"

"Took the girl I was with."

"Did you, did you lov-"

"No." She didn't go anymore into it, instead opting to change the subject.

"So you're a bowman?"

"Yeah."

"That's pretty handy during all this, isn't it? Silent?"

"You don't ever shut your mouth, do ya?"

"Oh, my apologies. Ass..." She muttered the last part, but he chuckled, so he must've heard it. They continued on in silence, off into the unknown to find some man that killed one of their own.

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**Okay so that was my first Walking Dead Fanfiction. Go ahead and go at it. Tell me if you liked it or not. I know this first chapter was short but I figured I'd publish it anyhow. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, so here's the second chapter. I know it's short, sorry, but it's really just a filler chapter since most of you should already know what happens next. Hope you enjoy, please read and review!**

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They had been walking for awhile and decided to stop for the night at yet another place. Joe had came to his own conclusion that they were close enough on the trail of Lou's killer that they could rest and catch the killer the next day. They had found an old house to sleep in, so Joe had Billy, Tony, and Dan go in and clear it out. While they did so, he conversed with Harley. Russia and Daryl stood off to the side of the two men, so Russia decided to take another crack at talking to the secretive man.

"So, why are you helping us catch this man?"

"Coulda been a woman."

"It wasn't though." He narrowed his eyes at her, studying her to a degree.

"And how do ya know that?"

"Uh..."

"You saw this guy, didn't ya?"

"Possibly, yes. I'm getting sick of this chase."

"What'd he look like then?"

"I don't know...Any other average male?" He made a low noise in his throat, almost like a grunt, then turned away to watch the other three men come out of the house.

"It's clear!" Tony said to Joe. Joe gestured towards the house, looking at Russia.

"Ladies first." He said with a smirk. Russia rolled her eyes at him, but went into the house nonetheless. She checked the rooms out, before deciding on one of the three bedrooms in the small farmhouse. She sat on the bed while listening to the rest of the group go through the house, claiming their own rooms. She didn't bother checking for food, knowing she had stocked up enough to last a few days. She left her bag on the bed, before going downstairs. As she went through the house, it seemed like the men had already claimed what they wanted. As she walked through the doorway into what appeared to be the living room, she noticed Daryl standing there, looking out the window.

"Claim a room?" She asked, walking up to him with a hand on her hip.

"Naw, figured I'd crash in here." He answered, without turning around.

"You're gonna sleep in the main room of the house, near the door, with a bunch of windows all around ya?" She received somewhat of a grunt in response. "You've got to be kidding me. Let's go."

"Where?"

"Upstairs. Now come on."

"Why the hell would I go upstairs with ya?"

"Because I'm not letting you be a dumbass. You're endangering yourself and us. Snappers could easily see and smell ya if you stay downstairs. Now get your ass movin'." She turned on her heel and made her way back upstairs. As she reached the steps, she heard Daryl walking behind her. She smirked to herself, then led him up the stairs and to the bedroom she had claimed. They both stepped inside, and he shook his head at her.

"I'm not takin' the bed. We ain't sharin' either." She scoffed.

"Hah! Who said you're going anywhere near the bed? I just didn't want you sleeping downstairs and getting me killed. You're takin' the floor." She went to her bag and dug through it, before pulling out a fork and a jar of preserved apple slices in cinnamon. They had raided quite a few farmhouses, which meant many of them had cellars full of canned fruits and vegetables. Some of which were more of a delicacy and contained added spices and sweeteners. She sat back against the headboard and watched Daryl did a can of food from out of his bag. He sat down on a chair in the room, which was next to a lone desk, before opening the can with his knife and eating. She opened her jar and dug into the apples, savoring the cinnamon and apple flavor. After eating, they ended up going to bed.

The next morning, Russia got up early to change into her second outfit. She only had about two pairs of clothes, given she wanted to save space for food and needed items. Russia slipped out of her old clothes quickly, noticing Daryl was still resting on the floor. She slipped into a pair of faded denim skinny jeans, before pulling a gray longsleeve shirt over her head. She put her laceup boots back on, then sat back on the bed, taking a drink out of one of the bottles of water she had. As she did this, Daryl woke up. He sat up and stretched, then went into his bag to grab a bottle of water. They sat there in comfortable silence, drinking their water, until Joe's voice interrupted it.

"Let's go! We've got a son of a bitch to catch today!" She groaned in frustration, before packing up her bag. Daryl followed her out of the room and down the stairs, where all of the men were waiting by the door. Joe looked her over, and then they set off. As they walked down the road, Joe fell into step next to her. He didn't say anything, even though he looked like he wanted to. This annoyed Russia, so she decided to say something.

"Yes Joe? Did you want something?"

"You're gettin' pretty close with Daryl there, Ruskie."

"And?"

"I know he's done no wrong by us yet, but I don't think you should be puttin' yourself in any risk."

"Oh excuse me for wanting to talk to someone who isn't a bastard who treats me like a sex object. _So sorry..._"

"Don't give me that attitude, Russia. I'm just sayin' you should watch out."

"I can think for myself, Joe. Don't worry about it." He shook his head at her.

"Fine Russia. I'm not helpin' your ass if he isn't as okay as we thought."

"Mhmm, I'll be sure to remember that." They walked in silence for a few minutes, until Russia spoke up again. "Joe?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are we still chasing after this guy? The one that killed Joe?"

"So innocent. Because Russia, he left Lou to die in that bathroom to turn into one of the dead freaks and almost kill one of us. I won't take that nicely."

"But he could be long gone by now? What if Lou tried to kill him, so he killed Lou in defense?" He stared hard into Russia's eyes, trying to read them.

"Russia, are you telling me I should just let this go? Because he possibly just trying to escape with his life?" She didn't reply, so he continued. "Because you should be smart enough to know by now, that I would rather have someone else die, then one of our own. You may have been off livin' the perfect little girl's dream with your friend and her boyfriend the rapist when this whole thing went down, but I was back home, helpin' our neighbors and friends. Lou had to shoot his own little boy in the head, 'cause he got bit. He watched his little girl get mauled and shredded apart by these snappers. Hell, he saved my life when his brother tried to bite me. So now that we've got that all out in the open, tell me again why we should give up on finding Lou's killer?" She lowered her head, staring at the ground as she walked.

"...'M sorry, Joe. I won't bring it up again..."

"Good. I'm gonna go talk to Harley." He left her to walk up to the front of their group, leaving her alone at the very back. When she looked back up from the ground, she noticed Daryl staring back at her. When she made eye contact with him, he quickly averted his eyes to look ahead of him. She jogged up to him, walking beside him.

"Family problems?" He mumbled next to her. She let out a sigh, re-adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder.

"None of your damn concern, redneck." She didn't exactly feel like telling the man next to her that Joe didn't trust him. Hell, she doubted Daryl even trusted any of them, even her. "Joe thinks I'm being stupid, thinking that we should give up chasing Lou's killer."

"Why do ya think that?"

"Because maybe he was trying to fight for his life or something. We'll probably never know, since Joe will just want to kill the man right away."

"I see your point."

"What was your childhood like? 'M sorry, I just wanna talk about something."

"My childhood ain't important to ya. Stay the hell out of my business." He said to her gruffly, leaving her silent. It was obviously an extremely touchy subject, so she decided not to pry, knowing it was the best thing to do.

The hours passed by quickly, and it was soon nighttime. Joe was walking with the men of his group, while Daryl and Russia were a little behind. She came to the conclusion that she was sick of the silence on his end, so she started up again.

"Look, I'm sorry for pryin'. Can you tell me about the people you were with at least? In your old group?"

"Ain't nobody important."

"They must've been important, especially if you were chasing after one." He almost growled at her it seemed, but he replied anyways.

"A'right. I'll tell ya since your prissy ass won't stop bothering me." She snorted in response. "There was a sheriff with his boy and a little baby girl," He mentioned the little girl with almost a caring sort of tone, "and a family of two girls and their old man. There was a brother and sister, a chinaman, another woman, a black woman with a sword who used to lead walkers on a leash, a black man I found one day while on a run..." He ended up telling her about the people from his old group. He didn't really say much, but he gave simple descriptions of who they were. He spoke of the old man with respect, along with the sword-wielding woman, while he spoke of the one woman fondly, as if she was a close friend. He spoke of the sheriff and his two kids simply, and explained how he had became the sheriff's right-hand man after awhile. He told her about the baby girl, who he had called 'Ass-Kicker', and how her mother had died during childbirth and turned.

"Which one was the girl you were with?"

"The old man's youngest daughter. She was a small thing, pale and blonde. She took care of lil Ass-Kicker. We got overrun by walkers, and she got taken from me by a car when I made it out of the house."

"Oh..Sounds like you had it good there."

"It was. Till we got attacked by a crazy bastard and his little army. Walkers poured in, we all got seperated. I took 'er and ran." She thought about all he had told her, surprised he had even mentioned that much in the first place. When she came back to the present, she noticed that Joe and the rest of the men had disappeared. She glanced up at Daryl.

"We should probably hurry up." He nodded once, and led the way through the undergrowth. They ended up on a road, where there was a single vehicle. Russia could see the smoke from a fire that had been just put out, along with the shadows of Joe and his men, along with two others. Daryl went ahead of her, taking in the sight of Joe with his .45 pointed at a man on the ground. Daryl and the man made eye contact.

"Joe, what are ya doin'?" Joe stopped what he had been doing, counting actually, to answer Daryl.

"Daryl...You stopped me at eight. Do you know these people? This is the son of a bitch who killed our guy."

"No, Joe, these are good people." Russia watched Joe's facial expression change from a blank look to a confused look.

"Now see that, that is a lie. You're sayin' these are 'good people', but they killed Lou."

"Look, take it out on me. They are, Joe." Joe shrugged his shoulders slightly, before motioning to Daryl.

"Beat 'im to a pulp, men." Billy and Harley advanced on Daryl, before throwing punches at him. Daryl tried to fend them off, but they overpowered him. Russia stepped out of their way and walked to the hood of the car to talk to Joe.

"Joe...What the hell is goin' on here?" She finished her sentence and took in the kneeling man's features. It was the man from the bathroom. She didn't think they'd actually find him.

"What does it look like, Ruskie? We found Lou's killer. This bastard's gonna die." He said the next part to the man. "You see, we're gonna have some fun. We're gonna take the boy, then the woman, then finally, finish it all by killin' you." Russia watched in shock as Dan took a boy from out of the vehicle, before tossing him to the ground. He looked like he was just becoming a man, maybe fifteen or sixteen. Tony had his gun pointed at the black woman on the ground. Daryl was still being beaten up by Harley and Billy, while Dan was manhandling the poor boy on the ground. She turned back to Joe.

"Joe, stop this! We don't need to have the child involved." Joe glared at her.

"I'm gettin' sick of your bullshit, Russia. He's with this man, this man who killed our own. So he goes down with him. Now you're gonna stand back and let me deal with this. Got it?" The man on the ground looked over at Dan who was threatening the boy with a knife.

"Tell your guy to leave my boy alone." Joe ignored him. "I said, tell your guy to leave my boy alone!" Joe chuckled, glancing over at Dan to see him starting to undo his belt. Russia glared at Dan, pissed off.

"Dan, get the fuck off of that boy! I'll cut your fucking throat!" Dan looked from her to Joe. Joe narrowed his eyes at Russia.

"Russia, don't fuck around like that. I'm not below putting you where you belong. I'll let these boys have at you, unless you shut your damn mouth." She crossed her arms, angry that Joe was more obsessed with killing these people than protecting her. She watched the scene play out in front of her as Lou's killer threw his head back, hitting Joe square in the gut. Joe released him, but quickly took back control by grabbing the man by his shoulders and hauling him up, landing a punch right to his jaw. They had a quick fight, but Joe got the upperhand once again, holding the man up by his shoulders and restricting his movement. "What are ya gonna do now, sport?"

What happened next haunted Russia for days.

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**There was chapter 2 of Claiming Life and Death. If you didn't know, the girl in the cover image is Russia. Yes, she's the same girl as Natalya from my COD fanfic story. Her eyes are dark gray now, not green. Also, I know it's kind of obvious what happens next after that kind of pointless cliffhanger, unless you're reading Walking Dead Fanfiction, yet have never seen the show. Anyhow, review please!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Well, here's chapter 3, and I'm pretty sure we all know what is about to happen. Please review! Anyhow, yeah, her name is Russia, and I know that may sound typical, like oh let's have a strange name. Well, it sounded nice. So enjoy!**

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Russia watched, gray eyes wide, as the man leaned in and bit down into her brother's throat. He clamped down, then ripped out Joe's jugular. At that moment, all of the fighting and movement around her seemed to stop. Everyone had stopped to stare at the man and Joe. Lou's killer spit out the chunk of flesh he had ripped from Joe's neck, before letting Joe fall to the ground to bleed out. After that, everything happened in a flash. The black woman took the gun quickly from Tony, shot him in the head, then she stood up and shot Harley. Daryl then pushed Billy down, stomping down on his head multiple times, effectively killing him. Dan was the only one still alive, holding the boy against him with a knife to his neck. He was as pale as a ghost, scared of the man who had just ripped his leader's throat out.

"D-don't come any closer. I'll kill the boy! I mean it!" The man grabbed Joe's pocket knife, switched it open, then stalked towards Dan.

"He's mine." The boy escaped from Dan and ran to the black woman, who crouched down and embraced the boy. The man stabbed Dan in the lower stomach, then moved the knife upwards through Dan's stomach, gutting him right then and there in front of them all. Russia slinked over to stand behind Daryl, practically touching the back of his jacket. She peered from behind him and watched as the man finished up slicing Dan's stomach open. Dan fell to the ground as Lou's killer pulled the knife out. The man made eye contact with Russia and pointed the bloody knife at her.

"What about her."

It wasn't even a question. It was more so a statement. he took a step to come around the side of the vehicle's hood to go towards her. Russia took this moment to clutch the back of Daryl's jacket in her small fists. She pulled him back with her, to stay away from the crazed man. He tensed up at the contact, but she ignored it, knowing she had more important things to deal with now. She realized this was the time...It was time to claim one last thing.

"No...No...I didn't do anything." The man didn't seem to listen to her plea or care honestly. "I swear to God, I didn't do anything. I didn't want to go after you. I want my life." Daryl took this time to say something.

"Rick..." The man stopped moving towards her and looked at Daryl instead. "Rick, she didn't do anything. She didn't want to continue hunting you down." Rick looked at the bloody knife in his hand, then he let it fall to the ground. He slid down to the ground, leaning against the side of the car. He rested his arms on his knees, and Russia could see his hands shaking. She released her hold on Daryl's jacket, allowing him to go into his bag and get water and a rag. He poured some of the water onto the rag, before handing it to Rick. Rick wiped most of the blood off of himself, before setting the rag on the ground by him. Daryl took this time to speak.

"I shouldn't have trusted those bastards for even a split second. I should'nt have helped 'em hunt you down. I should've tried to le-"

"Daryl, this isn't on you. You didn't know. We're brothers, Daryl. I don't think any of this is your fault." Daryl was silent, and while Russia was contemplating what to say, the black woman got up and stalked towards her.

"You. You will explain what you were doing with this group. Or I will k-" Daryl stopped her.

"Michonne." The woman, Michonne, let her words end abruptly. Russia took a deep breath.

"Joe was my brother. He found me, saved me, and then took me under his wing. We went from place to place, finding supplies and camping out. We stumbled upon the house where you three must've been staying, and this man, I mean Rick, was inside when we came I guess. I went to check on Lou, and I instead found Rick with a gun and Lou dead on the floor. After my brother found out, he led us out to find Rick to kill him for murdering Lou. I didn't want to. You told me you had a son, and I figured Lou had tried to kill you. I swear, I wanted no part of this." Michonne seemed satisfied enough with her answer, since she didn't reply, nodded her head once, then went back to the boy. She overheard her call the boy 'Carl', so she figured she knew all of their names now. Daryl glanced at the bodies.

"We need to finish 'em off. The ones who could turn into walkers." Russia nodded from behind him, taking her knife from her belt and walking over to Joe. She crouched next to his head and looked into his dead gray eyes. She inhaled slowly, then jammed her knife into the side of his head. Daryl took care of Dan, since Billy, Harley, and Tony already had considerable head damage to prevent them from becoming walkers. After doing this, they all settled down to get some rest for the night. But as Rick, Michonne, and Carl fell into a slumber, Russia saw that Daryl was still awake like her. She moved over to lean against the vehicle next to him. He glanced at her next to him.

"Still up?"

"Can't sleep..."

"Surprised ya ain't tryin' to kill Rick over killin' your brother." She sighed, fiddling with the knife on her belt.

"Can't say I'm happy about it. Joe protected me. He kept me alive for this long. Then all in one night, he's killed in front of me, along with the whole rest of our group."

"Why ain't ya doin' somethin' about it then? I'd kill anyone who tried to murder me or my brother. If I had the chance, I woulda..."

"Well it's not like we were extremely close. It wasn't until the outbreak that we really got close. He's my half brother."

"He ain't completely your blood?"

"Naw...We had the same mama. His old was an abusive bastard, so our mama left him, married my daddy, then had me when Joe was fifteen. Our sister was ten, so I was more spanned out in age."

"Is your sister half?"

"No she's completely my blood sister, and Joe's half sister."

"How old was Joe? Yesterday?"

"I'd say about forty or so. Our sister is, or was, thirty-five."

"So that'd make ya 'bout twenty-five?"

"Mhm...Joe used to think I acted like I'd just turned twenty-one, and that I looked like I was nineteen." She felt Daryl's gaze scan over her body quickly, before he replied.

"You're a young 'un."

"Well how old is the great, mysterious bowhunter?"

"Ain't suppose to ask people how old they are...Or didn't ya mama teach ya that?"

"I thought that only applied to women? And I told you my name!"

"A'right. Thirty-four."

"You look much older than that!"

"Apocalypse does that to ya." She snickered, then leaned her head back against the car to rest.

Russia woke with a start to the sound of shuffling. Her eyes shot wide open and quickly scanned the surroundings. The sound of the shuffling was just a lone snapper walking towards the vehicle. Before she had a chance to kill it, Carl already had a knife through the back of it's head. She nodded towards him, got up, then went to where Daryl, Rick, and Michonne were. Rick acknowledged her first, by stepping forward and offering his hand. She shook it, as he started to speak.

"Rick Grimes. Sorry 'bout last night. I, uh, I wasn't thinking clearly."

"S'fine. I would've done the same I guess. I'm sorry. About what Dan tried to do. And Tony, Billy, Harley...Okay all of them. 'M sorry." The man in front of her chuckled.

"It's alright. You didn't mean no harm. S'long as I don't see you trying anything with us, then we'll be good. What's your name? I wasn't exactly following half of what was going on last night."

"Russia."

"Good to meet you, Russia."

"You too, Rick. Where are you guys headed?" Rick looked back at Michonne, then to Daryl.

"Terminus." She could barely stifle the remark she was going to make.

"You're gonna go to Terminus? As in _Terminus, community for all, sanctuary for all?_ All who arrive, surrive? That's bullshit."

"We're not gonna go in there thinkin' everything's fine. Last place we saw like that, it wasn't as nice and cozy as they'd want ya to think." Michonne scoffed.

"Crazy bastard tried to kill me. Killed some of our own..."

"Daryl told me about that." Russia replied, rubbing her arm. "We had heard of that town, but it didn't suit Joe's tastes. From what we'd heard of it, people just walked down the streets like nothing was wrong with the world outside of it's walls. Like a street right from Mayberry." Rick nodded.

"He killed innocent people...He attacked the prison we had lived at for months, seperated us all. We're gonna go into Terminus with a plan. Come on, let's go. We've gotta get going." He called for Carl, and the five of them set off. Rick and Daryl talked, and as they conversed about what had all happened, Carl walked next to Russia, with Michonne on his other side.

"So, you were the only girl in the group?" She was rather surprised he wasn't in shock or something, given he was almost raped by a grown man last night. She decided to tread lightly.

"Yes."

"How?"

"Joe was my brother."

"Why weren't there any other girls?"

"I don't know...We didn't just pick up stragglers to build a happy little family, you know?"

"Right..."

"So...Tell me about your life...Before all of this?"

"I don't really want to."

"Well, it's not like I'm gonna ask about extremely personal thin-" Michonne interrupted her with a sharp glare.

"Leave him _alone_." Russia stopped, and jogged up to Rick and Daryl. Daryl looked at her curiously.

"The hell are you running for?"

"I'm not welcome back there, and you know I missed you so much." Rick chuckled at her remark. She looked over at him. "So what's the plan exactly?"

"We're gonna get into Terminus from the back. No walking through the front door. We'll keep some weapons outside the fence in case Terminus isn't what it seems. We'll see if any of our old group is there. You can go wherever once we get inside."

"What? I'm not staying with you?"

"Why would you?"

"I...I just...I have nowhere else to go now. Since you sort of killed my last family member."

"We'll figure it out when we get to Terminus." That was the end of their discussion, as they mainly walked along in silence, heading towards the suppose safe haven.

After a few hours, they finally made it to the fence surrounding Terminus. There, Rick set to work giving them all instructions. Carl and Michonne went off to scout one direction, while Rick, Daryl, and Russia went the other. As they scouted, Rick buried a bag of weapons outside of the fence, just in case things turned south inside. They met back up with Michonne and Carl, before climbing over the fencing and rushing to the first building they saw.

As they went inside, Russia noticed a few men standing around, while a woman was repeating the same message over and over into a microphone, more than likely broadcasting to any working radio stations. As they went in, one of the men spotted them. They raised their weapons towards him, causing him to put his hands up in defense.

"Woah...We're not use to people coming in from the back. How about, you drop your weapons, and we show you to the main entrance. It's much more welcoming. Come on, you're outnumbered either way." Rick motioned for them to drop their weapons, and after that they were frisked. Once this was completed, they were showed to the main part of Terminus, or as the man, who introduced himself as Gareth called 'the welcoming committee'." A woman turned around and smiled at them.

"Welcome to Terminus. Let me make you up a plate." Russia's eyes shot wide open at the woman, and she stuttered in shock.

"M-Mary?" The woman cast her gaze over at Russia, and her eyes widened as well.

"Russia? Oh my goodness! You're alive!" The group Russia had came in with looked shocked to see that Russia knew one of the Terminus people. But their reunion was short lived as Rick seemed to take in certain parts of Terminus. Out of no where, he slapped down the plate of food Mary had been holding and took Alex hostage, pointing a gun at the man's head. Mary looked shocked, so as a fight started, she pulled Russia away to watch from the sidelines.

"Mary, what the he-" Rick's voice interrupted her.

"Where the hell did you get that shit? The poncho, that watch, and the riot gear!? Where are our people?!" Gareth calmly replied to Rick.

"We got the poncho off a clothesline, the watch from a dead body, and the riot gear from a dead cop. You shouldn't threaten our people like that." A shot was fired and Alex was hit. During the commotion, Daryl, Rick, Michonne, and Carl fled, running from the main courtyard. Russia went to chase after them, but Mary held her back.

"Mary, let me go!"

"Why would you chase after violent strangers, when you've just found your sister again?"

"They're gonna get killed!"

"Gareth won't kill them, Russia. Relax, please, have some food." She looked at the ruined plate on the ground and laughed. "Well that one won't do, I suppose." She made up another plate and handed it to Russia. Russia took it, examining the large slab of meat on it. She inhaled the scent it gave off, and as she contemplated taking a bite, it hit her. She'd smelled that before, back when she'd been with Joe. They'd come across a small group of men who had been cooking meat over a fire. When Joe asked what kind of meat they had cooking, one of them replied, "Same thing as the dead ones are eatin'." After that, Joe had them all murdered and the meat buried. Russia set the plate down, and shook her head.

"I'm really not hungry."

"Russia, you've been out who knows where and you look like a skeleton. Eat the food."

"I'm not hungry, Mary. Lay off. What kind of meat is that?"

"Typical meat."

"Mary, cut the shit. What the fuck is going on in this place?" Mary ignored her question.

"Russia, I'm trying to help you here. Do you really want to end up like those strangers you came in with? If you want to live in Terminus peacefully, you're going to have to abide by the rules. I can tell you the rules if you wish, but you are going to have to behave and listen." Russia rolled her eyes and then crossed her arms.

"Fine, what the hell are the rules?"

"You can't have any weapons, you'll eat when you're told, and you won't go into building 3A. You'll listen to Gareth, you'll listen to me, and you won't try anything stupid. Now let me get you set up in a bunk in my room, and we'll talk to Gareth later about your postion."

"My position?"

"Everybody has their job here. _Everybody_." That concerned Russia, who felt a slight chill on her spine after her long lost sister said this.

"What's going to happen to my group?"

"They'll abide by Gareth's rules, or face the consequences." Mary led Russia into one of the buildings, down a few hallways, and then to a room. It had a basic bunk bed, a desk, and a couple chairs lying around. Russia gestured to the top bunk. "That's yours. Come back out to where we met when you're done settling in." She nodded, and Mary left the room. Russia stood there, taking in all that had just happened, before slipping out of the room. She went down the hallways, but took a different turn than Mary had showed her. She looked at the building numbers, and right before she reached building 3A, she was stopped by a man.

"Can I help you?"

"I'm just, looking for the main courtyard."

"It's in the opposite direction, princess."

"Sorry, I'm looking for Mary, and I just arrived here."

"Alright. I'll show you back." She groaned inwardly as he led her back to her somewhat messed up sister. Mary smiled warmly at her, nodding towards the man who had brought her back.

"Thank you, Tom." He nodded and left. "Get lost, Russia?"

"Sort of. Where's my group?"

"They got violent, so Gareth had to lock them up for awhile. Let's go talk to Gareth." Mary walked away, so Russia followed. They went down a few alleyways, before finally finding Gareth writing things down on a clipboard. He looked up from his clipboard to greet Mary and Russia.

"Hello Mary. Russia, it's nice to meet you."

"Hi Gareth, I'm here to ask about Russia's position, and she may have a few questions as well."

"Ahh I see. I'll let her ask a few questions first then." Russia took in the man before her. He looked about her age, maybe a little older, and he seemed to be the leader of the place. She decided to ask about the group.

"Where did my people go?"

"I assumed you'd ask about them. They're being held in a railroad car until they can learn to place nice."

"I want to see them."

"I don't know if that's a good idea."

"I want to see them! I'll play nice too, if you let me see them. What harm can they do if they're unarmed?"

"Why do you want to see them?" She pondered that in her head. She herself wasn't even sure why. She barely knew them, and they'd planned on ditching her off at Terminus anyways. Maybe it was because Terminus seemed shady, and Mary didn't seem the same anymore. Russia figured Gareth wouldn't let her see them because they were all friends, so she decided to take a more sly approach, or so she hoped.

"My boyfriend's in there!" She blurted out, shocking herself and Mary.

"Which one?" Gareth asked calmly.

"The brunette!"

"Russia, you do understand that of the three men that I escorted in there, they all had brown-hair?"

"...The one who had the crossbow!" _Oh sure Russia, bring Daryl into your problems,_ she thought to herself as Gareth opened his mouth to reply.

"Him? You don't seem like the type. But why does that matter to me?"

"I said I'd play nicely and go along with you if you let me see them. I might be pregnant." Mary gasped from next to her, and her words even made Gareth show somewhat of a look of surprise on his face. She scolded herself inwardly. _Way to kill them all Ruskie, how you gonna explain that?_

"Alright. Follow me." As they walked away, Gareth turned to mouth something back at Mary. Mary nodded and walked away to take care of some things. Gareth led Russia to a lone railroad car. He stopped her when they were about ten feet away. "I'll let you go in there for ten minutes, and ten minutes only. Don't do anything stupid. I'll come for you when your time is up. Wouldn't want the baby hurt." He said the last part while lightly patting her flat, almost concave stomach. She had to stop herself from recoiling in disgust. He slid open the door for her part way, helped her inside, then closed it again. As her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting of the car, she realized there were more people than just the four she'd arrived with. Daryl was the first to address her.

"What the hell are you doin' 'ere?" Before she could answer, Rick stepped forward.

"Why'd they let you in?" She sighed.

"Mary's my sister. I said I wanted to see you guys."

"Well why'd they let you in here?" She motioned at Daryl with her thumb.

"I told Gareth that Daryl was my boyfriend." A few of the women in the car stifled their laughter, while she could feel Daryl's eyes burning into her. Rick looked confused.

"That's all?" She bit her lip, but said it anyways.

"I said I may have been pregnant." Rick rubbed his beard, thinking before replying.

"Why did you want to see us?"

"Terminus is off." One of the men, a tall redhead soldier-looking guy, snorted.

"Yeah, no shit." She shook her head.

"No, like that meat my sister was grilling? I've smelled that before."

"Your point?" Rick asked.

"I think...I think they're cannibals." A woman came from the back. She had short brown hair and a wedding ring on her finger.

"Now what makes ya think that? That sounds kinda far out there." She had a southern drawl, much like many of them had. Before Russia could argue, Rick spoke up.

"Wait, she could be right. Think about it Maggie, they lured us in with possible sanctuary, when we got suspicious, they had us running down alleyways and rooms, before finally trapping us in a corner, to put us in here. Now why wouldn't they just kill us out there?" The woman, Maggie, gasped, looking shocked at this new information.

"So you're saying they gonna kill us and eat us?" Rick nodded his head.

"Possibly. Daryl, remember those crys for help we heard? And that courtyard full of remains? Those weren't walkers..." Daryl shook his head.

"Yeah, man, I know what you mean. What're we gonna do 'bout it then?" Rick turned back to Russia.

"They gonna let you see us again?"

"I don't know, I can try...Why?"

"I want you to learn every little possible thing about Terminus. Where every certain building is, what exactly they do with new arrivals who don't put up a fight, and anything else you can think of that's important. Can you do that?" She nodded, her short blonde hair bobbing with her head.

"Mhm. I can do that."

"Good. You better stay ou-" The railroad car's door opened to reveal Gareth with a rifle. He pointed at Russia.

"You there, let's go. You're time is up." She nodded, then walked over to get out of the car. Gareth smirked. "Not gonna say goodbye to your boytoy? I mean you are his baby's mama." She bit her lip, turned to walk to Daryl, then quickly wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. He patted her back hesitantly, before letting her get out of the car. Gareth walked her back to the main courtyard, before motioning to an alleyway. "Mary went down that way. She's gonna tell you what you're gonna be doin' around here. Sleep tight." He walked away, while Russia made her way over to the alleyway. She saw Mary, so she caught up with her sister. Mary smiled at her kindly.

"Hi there, Russia, ready to go to our room? I'll explain your new position there!" They went back to their room, where Mary told Russia to sit on the bottom bunk. Russia crossed her legs, then looked at Mary expectantly.

"So?"

"Okay," Mary clapped her hands together cheerfully, "this is what you're position is. As you know, the outbreak has kind of depleted mankind. There aren't a lot of survivors out there. So that's what Terminus is here for. We select any able girl, like yourself, and we pair her up with an able man. Now instead of having the girls go out and risk their lives, they get to stay back here and live a comfortable lifestyle."

"What do you mean by 'paired up'?"

"Oh, silly me. The pair helps repopulate the Earth!" Russia stood up and put her hands on her hips.

"Oh fuck that idea! So you're telling me, you wanna use me as some babymaking whore!?" Mary shook her head quickly.

"No! Russia, you wouldn't be a whore! You only stay with that one guy! Gareth calls it Repopulation, but I call it, Project: Adam and Eve. I came up with the idea actually."

"Mary, there is no way in hell I am doing that." Russia watched as her sister went from sunny and cheerful, to dark and almost sinister.

"Now now, Russia. Let's not forget that you said you'd play nice and behave. You either do this, or you join your little friends in the railroad car."

"But why the fuck do I have to? You more than likely have plenty of girls!" Mary smiled and shook her head.

"No sadly. Even though we promise them a nice life, many of the girls we receive here think it's not good enough for them, so many try to run away or kill themselves."

"Why would you do this to me?!"

"Russia, calm down. It's not like you're going to be paired up with a complete stranger."

"Who the fuck am I paired up with then?"

"Well it would have been Alex, but since the incident-"

"You mean when he got capped off..." Mary ignored her and finished her sentence.

"Since the incident involving him, you're now paired up with Gareth."

"Why is he involved? Isn't he the leader here?"

"Well he hasn't been involved before, but he feels that you two would be a good pair for this...Don't fight it, Russia, accept it." Mary left the room, leaving Russia to get into bed and think over what Mary had told her. She had a restless sleep, thinking over every little detail of the day. Mary's words haunted her however.

_Don't fight it Russia...Accept it._

_Fuck that...I'm going down fighting._

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**Alright! There was chapter 3, and I hope you enjoyed it! I know there are a few where Terminus is like bent on repopulating, and most have Terminus as a cannibalistic type of place, but I mean come on, the latter is a given. Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed!**


	4. Chapter 4

**So here's Chapter 4! I'm just starting off, but this won't be typical updating style. Hope you enjoy! Also, this chapter contains rape, and even though it isn't that graphic, I just wanted to warn you. so WARNING RAPE. Review!**

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The next day, Russia woke up, stretched, then screamed in frustration. Mary had left already to start off the day, but her scream brought somebody to the door. They knocked loudly until she jumped down to open the door. On the other side of the door was Gareth. She tried to slam the door but he put his boot in the way just in time.

"Now, don't you want to see your boytoy again?" She opened the door for him after hearing that. He smirked. "That's what I thought. Let me show you the showers. Mary grabbed some clothes for you too." She then noticed he was holding some clothes. She took them from him, then followed him to the showers. "Here. Don't waste too much time in here. Go to the main courtyard for breakfast when you're done." He disappeared around the corner, so Russia went into one of the shower stalls and undressed, before starting the shower. She scrubbed away the weeks of dirt and filth she had on her from being with Joe and his gang. Even though he'd become an ass in the last day or so of his life, she still missed him. He had been the one to hunt her down and protect her when the outbreak started, while Mary had vanished off the face of the Earth. Russia thought about their family, and by the time she was done with her shower, she had her thoughts figured out and was clean. She slipped into the clothes Gareth had given her, groaning when she realized they were a size too small. The jeans were gray and grungy, while the shirt was a basic dark red vneck tshirt. She slipped her boots on along with her belt, before drying her hair and tousling it with her fingers. It was too short to put up, given it went just to her chin.

Russia walked out of the showers and managed to make her way to the main courtyard. There, she spotted Mary cooking food with another woman. She walked over to them, and they both gave her a greeting.

"So, I hear you're paired up with Gareth." The other woman said, as she handed Mary a bowl.

"Yeah! It's gonna be swell. Who's whore are you?"

"Russia!" Mary scolded her. The other woman seemed unfazed, since she continued to smile.

"Oh I'm too old to be apart of Repopulation."

"I can't assume why..." Mary shot her a look, as she put some slabs of meat on the grill.

"Looks good, doesn't it? I'm Rita, by the way. So how has your stay been so far?" She ignored Rita's question and asked Mary a question of her own.

"When can I see them again?" Rita interrupted.

"See who?" Russia narrowed her eyes at Rita.

"My boyfriend and group." She was impressed it rolled off her tongue so easily. Mary rolled her eyes.

"After breakfast. I have to explain your position more."

"I want to see him now!" Mary pointed her finger at Russia accusingly.

"Russia! You need to eat first. Starving yourself isn't good for the baby!" Rita's eyes widened.

"I-I thought you just came in yesterday? Sorry dear, but I don't believe you can have a ba-"

"I never said I was pregnant. I said I might be. I want to see him, _now_." Mary exhaled.

"Fine. I'll take you there. Rita, watch the food please?" Rita nodded, while Russia followed Mary back to the railroad car. She took in her surroundings, reminding herself to take note of everything. They got to the closed door of the railroad car, where Mary pushed it open. "Ten minutes. I'll be waiting." She let Russia go inside, before closing the door.

"Great, she's back again." She heard Daryl's voice grumble.

"Thanks.." Rick stepped forward to talk to her.

"Anything?"

"They're messed up in the fucking head, that's what's up."

"What do you mean?"

"They have a whole plan to repopulate the earth. They take any girls that can, and they pair them with a man. So it's like a nice little sick baby factory."

"How did you find that out?"

"Because, I'm paired up with Gareth."

"He hasn't touched you yet, has he?" She shook her head furiously.

"No! The hell if I'll let him anywhere near me like that. They still assume I'm possibly pregnant. I doubt that'll stop him though. As long as I keep up with my lie about Daryl and I, I should be able to keep seeing you here." A man stepped up, and walked up to Rick and Russia.

"Why are we trusting her? I'm just saying. We don't know her, and you told us, Rick, that her brother's group tried to kill you, Carl, Michonne, and Daryl."

"Glenn, she's the only thing we have at the moment. She hasn't betrayed us...We need to get out of here, and she's a big part of that right now."

"So you're suggesting she fuck the leader and get answers?" The soldier guy from yesterday walked forward.

"No! That isn't apart of the plan. I wouldn't put someone in that position. Is that all you have?"

"Yeah...Sorry."

"Alright. Well since you're on our side, you may as well know who's who." He pointed at each person in the car that she didn't know, and by the time Mary opened the door, Russia had a better understanding of their group. Mary looked at her expectantly, so Russia quickly went to Daryl and hugged him again. He did the same, less cautious than he was the day before, and as they embraced, he mumbled something into her hair.

"Don't let that asshole touch ya." She pulled away and gave him a smirk.

"Of course not. I've got my bitch face on." She got out of the car and after Mary closed the sliding door, she walked back to the main courtyard. Rita handed her a plate, which consisted of some vegetables, an apple, and a piece of meat. She ate everything but the meat, opting instead to try and throw it out. As she was about to dump her plate in a garbage can, Mary stopped her.

"What are you doing, Russia? Eat up. You need to stay healthy for Gareth."

"I'm full."

"You are not full! You're lying. Eat the meat! Or I'll inform Gareth of your misbehavior. Take two bites at least." The corner of Russia's mouth twitched as she carefully took two bites from the meat. It tasted odd, and the texture felt smooth and slimey in her mouth. Mary smiled at her and took her plate away. "Good job. Go run along now. I'll find you later." Russia all but sprinted to the bathroom and shoved two fingers down her throat, forcing herself to throw up her breakfast. After throwing it all up, she wiped her mouth and drank water from the sink. Russia walked out and as she did, Gareth pulled her aside.

"Hey." She glared at him.

"What do you want?"

"I came to tell you more about your job around here. Mary said you were troublesome today, so I decided to take you off her hands. Here's a schedule." He handed her a piece of tablet paper, with an entire scheule for her day. "It'll be nice to see you tonight." She bit her lip.

"I don't see how that's necessary, seeing as I'm expecting already."

"Really? You said you might be."

"Well I threw up just a few minutes ago. Care to explain that as anything but morning sickness?"

"You're lying. Mary might be clueless enough to believe you, but I know better. See you tonight."

"What times can I see my boyfriend?"

"It's on that paper. I was nice enough to allow you time. Don't take advantage of it." He walked past her, leaving her to read over the paper. The next time she could see Daryl during the day was in ten minutes. While she waited for the time to past, she decided to go explore the parts of Terminus she hadn't yet seen. Russia wanted to try her luck at getting into 3A again. She made it back to the hallway she'd gotten to the day before, where Tom had stopped her, but this time, she wasn't interrupted. As she went to go to 3A, noises from a door next to her stopped her in her tracks. She peered through the window of the door, before stepping inside. What she found were cages filled with women. They all wore dirty clothes and some were moaning in pain. She walked further into the large room, and some of the women called out to her.

"Hey! Get me out of here!"

"Bitch!"

"Help me!" She ignored their calls, and continued walking, before she stopped in front of one cage. In the back corner of the cage, was a girl huddled in the corner, her tangled, ratty blonde hair covering her face. As the girl heard her footsteps approach the cage, she looked up at Russia.

"Please, leave me alone...I just want to go back to Daryl..." At the mention of Daryl's name, Russia sprung into action.

"Wait..You know Daryl?" The girl nodded, her interest caught as well. "What's your name?"

"...Beth? Who are you?"

"I'm Russia. I came here with Daryl."

"Where is he!? Who else was with you?"

"He's being held in a railroad car with a few others from his old group. We came with Michonne, Rick, and a boy named Carl." Beth stood up and went to the front of her cage to converse more with Russia.

"Are they okay? Did you see a woman named Maggie?" Russia nodded.

"I'm guessing your the Greene sisters?"

"Yes! Who else was there? Do you know any names?" Russia opened her mouth to speak, but the sound of the door slamming stopped her.

"You! What the hell are you doing out of a cage!?" Before Russia could act, she was restrained by two men and shoved into the cage next to Beth's.

"No! I'm with Mary! I'm her-"

"Shut your mouth! Everybody knows Mary. Bitch."

"No! You don't understand! I'm her sister!"

"Mary doesn't have a sister." The men left, so Russia yelled in anger. After she somewhat calmed down, she went to the side of her cage closest to Beth. There, she continued to talk to the girl. They conversed for a little while longer, until Beth fell asleep. Shortly after that, Russia did the same.

A loud banging against the bars of her cage woke Russia up. She opened her eyes to see Gareth standing at the door to her cage.

"What the fuck are you doing in here?" He asked, as he unlocked the door.

"You're dumbfuck men shoved me in here!"

"Why were you near this room in the first place?"

"I don't know! I got lost!"

"You see, you're lucky you're with me. Otherwise, you'd be stuck in this room just like all of these women. Now, let's go. We've got things to do." He dragged her by her arm down the corridors and hallways until they came to another room. This one looked like an office and a bedroom put together. As Russia stepped inside before Gareth, he shoved her forward, causing her to stumble and fall to the floor. Before she could pick herself up, he had straddled her and pinned her hands above her head. "You've pissed me off, Russia. Do you really want to do this the hard way?"

He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, harshly kissing her. She bit down on his bottom lip, pulling and drawing blood. He sat up, slapped her across the face, then spit blood on the ground next to her.

"You bitch! I try to be nice, and this is what I get! I'm done playing nice with you!" He dragged her over to the bet, pulled handcuffs from his pocket and then slipped them onto her right wrist, before cuffing the other part onto one of the legs of the bed. He pinned her other hand down as he tore open her shirt, revealing the black bra she had worn for the past week or so. He took that off of her, then set to work on unbuttoning her jeans. She thrashed underneath him, trying to kick him off of her. It didn't work, and all it did was earn her another slap across the face.

"Stop it! Get off of me!"

"Shut up! You could have had it the easy way! But no, you had to be a fucking pain in the ass!" He slid her jeans down, leaving her in her black boyshorts. He pressed another forceful kiss to her mouth, all the while undoing his jeans. She shook her head back and forth.

"Stop! Please! I'm sorry!"

"It's too late!" He slapped her again, anger coursing through him. Russia suddenly stopped, the shock overcoming her. She laid there and stared to the side as he began raping her. After years of protecting herself from other men, and then from Joe's group, she had finally lost. She tried to escape into her thoughts, vaguely aware of the man above her. She talked to herself in her mind, thinking about what this would mean for her. She'd missed her time each month since the outbreak started, given the fact that she'd always had less food than she needed to stay at a healthy body condition. She assumed she couldn't get pregnant unless she ate more and got back to a healthy weight range. She planned it out in her head, and by the time Gareth had finished, she knew everything she needed to do. He made a low noise in his throat, before removing himself from on top of her. In that split second, he seemed to change. He scanned over her body, remorse in his eyes.

"Fuck, oh shit. I'm sorry...I-I'm sorry. Fuck." He got up, redid his jeans, then went to his dresser. He pulled out a shirt, then went to uncuff her. She didn't moved once, even while he took off her torn shirt and slipped that onto her instead. He buttoned her jeans, then made her lean back against the bed. "I...I didn't mean it. Say something!" He slapped her, shocking her out of her comatose state.

"You fucking bastard! You can go to hell! I'll murder you before I did, I hope you remember that!"

"I said I was sorry!"

"You piece of shit! You think saying _sorry_ is going to help anything!? You can go fuck yourself! I'll fucking slaughter you!" At this, the normal Gareth appeared. He dragged her back to her and Mary's room, and while he was there, he slapped her again, then tore the clothes off of her, including her jeans. He left her in her underwear, pulled the sheet from off her bunk, wrapped it around her, then shoved her out the door. He pulled her along outside, to the railroad car. The sun was almost setting as they got to the car. He opened the door, pulled the sheet off of her, then pushed her inside.

"Have a fun night in there, you whore!" He slammed the railroad car door shut, leaving her feeling vulnerable and weak to the people inside. She suddenly felt arms wrap around her as she adjusted to the darkness.

"Oh my...What the hell did he do to you?" She heard Maggie's voice, then another woman was by her also. "Hun, oh no...Sasha, wake up Rick. Get his jacket from him." The woman near her walked away, going over to a resting Rick. She woke Rick up, said a few words to him, and his eyes drifted to where Russia was on the floor in Maggie's embrace. He got up and walked past Sasha, taking off his coat as he did. Maggie got up, but Rick quickly replaced her, helping Russia into the jacket. He zipped it up, then sat down next to her, pulling her to him.

"Russia..." She shrugged him off and walked over to the far back corner of the car, opposite from everyone else. They let her be, until Daryl walked over and sat down next to her. He leaned against the wall of the car, as she stayed huddled up in Rick's jacket.

"You okay, girl?"

"I couldn't stop him...I tried."

"Fuck that then. At least ya tried. Why are ya here?"

"I don't know."

"He didn't even give ya your clothes back, did he?"

"No."

"Girl, I don't know what to say to you. Maggie!" Maggie went over to the two of them and sat on the other side of Russia. "She went through somethin' like this. She'll help ya." Daryl went to talk to Rick, while Maggie put an arm around Russia.

"It was Gareth, wasn't it?" Russia nodded numbly. "The man that attacked our prison, he did the same to me. Didn't actually rape me, but he made it seem like it. Glenn, now he wasn't happy. He thought I'd been raped. The Governor, or the man who attacked us, he took my shirt off, everything but the pants. Brought me into the room where they'd been torturin' Glenn, made him look at me. I was traumatized by the experience for awhile, even though he didn't even touch me. I suppose you had it a lot worse than me though, given it happened."

"He slapped me and took me on the floor."

"He slammed me down on the edge of a table. Gareth wasn't your first, was he?" Russia shook her head.

"No."

"You ain't gonna get pregnant, are you?"

"No. I've missed since this outbreak really got goin'. Never had enough food to stay at a healthy weight. Haven't been eaten much food here either. Threw up my breakfast this mornin'."

"I don't wanna have to tell you this, and my daddy wouldn't have wanted me tellin' ya this, but you gotta keep that up. Eat enough to live, but don't get yourself to a good weight. If they wanna use you for children, you gotta make sure you can't. I know this ain't safe, but it'll keep you safe from that." Russia suddenly wrapped her arms around Maggie's waist, while the other woman hugged her closer. Russia felt a hand stroking her hair, trying to comfort her, as Maggie spoke into her ear. "It's gonna be alright. You're gonna be fine, and we're all gonna get out of this hell. You just gotta find your rock. Find something to keep you fightin'. Got it?" Russia nodded into Maggie's shoulder.

"What was your rock?" She asked in a quiet voice.

"Glenn. I always kept fightin' for Glenn."

As Russia lifted her head to look at the other people in the car, she tried to think of something to be her 'rock'. "Anyways, are you gonna be okay, hun? I'm gonna go talk to Glen." Russia nodded.

"Thank you."

"Not a problem, Russia." Maggie let go of Russia and went to curl up next to Glen, whispering quietly to him. Daryl went back over to Russia to sit by her side.

"You okay?"

"Sort of. I'm still pissed off and slightly in shock."

"Quite the little fighter, Ruskie."

"Did you just call me 'Ruskie'?"

"I heard Joe call ya that once. It stuck with me. Unless ya gotta problem with that?"

"No. It's fine. I like it. It's only been maybe a couple days, and I already miss being called that."

"Then that's what I'll call ya." They stayed silent, till he jabbed her with his elbow to her side. She turned to look at him, curious.

"What?"

"You're gonna get through this, Ruskie, and then you're gonna kick some ass."

"I know, Daryl. I know."

"Make sure that bastard knows just who he's messin' with. You're one tough girl."

* * *

**There ya go! That was Chapter 4 of Claiming Life or Death. Hope you liked it. I'm sorry if any character seems OOC. I'm not sure how to write as some of them. Anyhow, please review!**


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